Not Traditional, Original

In the June 21, 2007 Chicago Sun-Times was an article on Barack Obama: “Presidential hopeful Barack Obama belongs to the United Church of Christ, one of the country’s most racially diverse and liberal Protestant denominations — the first to ordain an openly gay minister and to call for equal marriage rights for all people, regardless of gender. The UCC prides itself as being “out front” on social justice issues, battling civil rights, women’s rights and gay rights ahead of the mainstream. One Sunday hymnal equally celebrates male and female images of God.”?i Wikipedia says that the United Church of Christ has 1.2 million members and that individual churches have authority over doctrine.ii

I was curiouos. What does a bastion of Christian Liberality look like? So recently I went to a local UCC church to see this bastion of liberal Christianity promoting civil rights, gay rights, women’s rights, abortion, and other issues. The church, called Pittsburgh Trinity looked like many other small churches. The service appeared very similar to Presbyterian and Lutheran services I have attended with a few exceptions. As far as similarities there was an opening prayer, announcements, scripture readings, numerous hymns from the New Century Hymnal and a sermon. The announcements included a reference to the upcoming Pentecost celebration as the birthday of the Church. Some prayers ended with “In Jesus’ name” while others were to the Creator. In the middle of the service was an infant baptism where the baby was dabbed with water in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The ending song, a “scattering song”, was full of references to being filled with the Holy Spirit and Jesus.

There were a few subtle differences: the opening prayer to the Lord of the Universe was credited as a prayer from an Islamic tradition. Perhaps because it was Memorial Day weekend or perhaps not, the children’s service was very secular. The only teaching to the kids was concerning the flag of the United States and how great it was to live in our great country. The sermon referred to Joshua 4:1-8 as an example of making a memorial and then focused on Memorial Day. The prayer hymn was America The Beautiful. Other than one comment that I’ll address below there wasn’t anything that wouldn’t be in many more conservative services.

There was a reference in support of Barack Obama’s comment to the Notre Dame students that concerning abortion we share a lot in common and we need to start there. This was obvious pro-choice support for a pro-choice president. But, other than that, in a church publicized for its openness to racial, civil, and sexual gender issues there were not any apparent hard-core activists in this particular church. This was an all white, mostly older population that looked comprised of conventional families. I’m sure that with more interaction there would be more discussion of these issues, but this church looked like any of a number of more conservative congregations that I’ve seen.

One thing that is remarkable to me is that, without researching beforehand, this church looks like so many churches where it is impossible to understand at first glance where the church stands on so many doctrines because the service looks so innocuous. And even with research, since each church is fairly autonomous, it is impossible to know where they stand without an in depth investigation into that particular church. I stopped to chat for just a minute with the pastor at the end of the service but with people milling out you can’t really get into anything, just “hi” and “thanks”

It really becomes easier to see how people slowly accept different doctrines over time because becoming part of a church is such a gradual process in so many instances. And churches look so alike with services that could almost be automatically interchanged between them.

The Quaker movement sprang out of the Puritan landscape of 17th century England. George Fox, an ardent Christian, believed he received insight from Christ that:

The church had become much too institutionalized and regimented.

People need not meet in churches as God doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands.

People don’t need priests as all believers have the spirit within, the body of Christ is a priesthood of believers.

If people wait silently the spirit will give insights.

Living in Pennsylvania I have always had an interest in Quakerism because William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania was a Quaker, and resolved to make it a welcome place for this sect. Quakers reportedly are called quakers because:

George Fox was arrested in Derby in October 1650 and charged with blasphemy. The magistrates who tried him were Gervase Bennett and Colonel Nathaniel Barton. George Fox was questioned intermittently over an eight hour period, during which at one point George Fox told the magistrates “Tremble at the word of the Lord”. It was Justice Bennett who coined the name “Quakers” for the followers of George Fox.[1]

All of the historical references to Christianity show it as an ardent Christian sect.

After learning some of these things I determined to visit a meeting. I arrived about ten minutes early. I was greeted warmly at the door by a nice older woman named Martha, and led to the meeting hall. Along the way I noticed bulletin boards and pamphlet racks with headlines that talked about securing peace, living green, and building community. I sat down in the meeting room and looked around. A few people were sitting quietly, mostly with their heads bowed. The meeting room was different in that all chairs faced the center. There was no podium, no speaker stand, no altar, or any of the trappings usually associated with religious service meetings. At different times I prayed, meditated, and just listened and observed

The silence was intense. No one spoke for about a half an hour at which point one lady stood and shared how she had been mentored in Quakerism. One women gently suggested over years she attend a seminar about Quakerism and finally she had and found it very rewarding. That lady passed away the week before and the speaker sat down with tears and gentle sobs.

The silence remained. Then oddly I started to feel some shaking, â??quakingâ? if you will, disturb the silence, but it was the thumping of many, mostly young ones, coming down the stairs to join the meeting. I soon recognized that there must have been a â??First dayâ? school which was just let out. Quakers use First Day, First Month for the days and months. The historical data was that this was because day and month names were named after pagan gods, for example, Thor for thursday. One person I talked to said the reason was to show that all days are holy, not just Sunday.

The silence after that was not quite the same as youngsters fidgeted around the room for a few minutes. Then suddenly, and almost simultaneously, everyone was chattering hellos and ‘how are you’s, and the â??meetingâ? was over. Then a man introduced himself as the clerk, and read some â??queriesâ?. These were focus questions that everyone was to ask themselves. â??Do we participate as fully as we can in the meeting community and accept our share of responsibility for carrying out its work?” “Do we widen our circle of friendship within the meeting and welcome newcomers?” There were others and people just listened quietly and reflectively. Then it was on to announcements. There was a focus on the word “friends.” Did any “friend” have any news about a “friend?” Yes, this “friend” was moving somewhere, and that “friend” was having a gathering about such and such. There was also a focus on “the light.” “Are meetings for business held in expectant waiting for the guidance of the Light?” Friends are to be guided by “the Light” in all they do. The point of all their process is waiting for the movement, the inspiration if you will, of “the Light.” There were many announcements and the group seem to get livelier as they were given.

Finally it was announced it was time for fellowship and light refreshments. I munched on half a bagel, and a piece of pita bread with hummus while talking with several people. They all asked me how I had discovered their meeting. I told them I was studying Christianity starting with original Christianity and the movements that developed and was looking at this one. I asked them about Quakerism. I especially wanted to know if they considered themselves “Christians”. Their response was vague. “Some people who come from Christian backgrounds believe that is true,” was one response. I asked if there believe system was similar to Unitarian Universalism. “Oh, no, we are nothing like Unitarian Universalists.” No would you say that you’re like then? “Well, that would depend on who you ask, different people will give you different responses.” Almost all of my questions where answered in the same vague manner.

Without fail everyone was upbeat, warm, and friendly. Everyone I talked to welcomed me and invited me to come back. I got the distinct impression that people there were not only friendly, but at least some of them were genuine â??friends”. They seemed committed to their process. These were nice, likable people. However, I couldn’t help but notice that the Christian background of this movement was decidedly pushed into the background, that there were no references to Christ by anyone, and questions about Christ were answered vaguely. As a Christian myself, the last question I had, which I only asked myself, was, “What is Christian about this?” I could see the parallels between references to “the light” and Christ , but I couldn’t justify not talking about Christ in a meeting of a group started by a man who said Christ told him to go in the direction that led to this group.

Original Christianity

This web is a look at primitive, original Christianity, how it developed over time and how it compares to current practices.

Why? Click to Read More...

"Jesus Christ is Lord" is the common belief of billions of Christians. But there are tens of thousands of denominations. While ancient denominations like the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox claim to be the original and consequently "true" church, innumerable churches and denominations have started citing error in these ancient bastions and/or the leading of the spirit to reform the church and restore the church.

There are numerous disputed issues. Cessation doctrine (prophecy and the gifts of the spirit ended with the apostles), infant baptism, the inerrancy of Scripture, the form of Church government, the role of women in the church, and currently, the acceptance of homosexuality are just some of the many disputed doctrines that cause the Christian body to be so divided.

The Reformation movement performed an invaluable service. But instead of simply reforming the church or simply working to create one more correct alternative church the Reformation movement worked to increase the number of disputes over scripture and consequently the number of splits has increased exponentially.

The problem with looking at all the denominations is that it can become confusing to just compare this church or denomination to that one. The complexity of looking at all the theological implications can become overwhelming. For many busy people that means just making the best, less than fully educated decision they can, and staying with the church of their heritage or finding a church where they feel they can grow.
Just finding the information can be an overwhelming task. Putting it into some understandable framework is an even more complicated task.

This web site, rather than trying to just compare all the current positions on the differences goes back to the beginning (primitive, original Christianity) and evaluates Christianity starting at that point. This includes looking at the gospel accounts, but also includes looking at early church documents as well as other ancient documents, both secular and religious. (There is also a section on Philosophy because its profound impact on Christian theological development.) The articles have numerous references to works both in print and online.

Next the web site looks at the developments in Christianity from original Christianity forward to see how the church developed over time comparing each development with what we know about original Christianity. The goals are:

To trace the development of the church from start to now to see how the church at large wound up with all these competing churches/denominations today, and

To equip people with the knowledge of original Christianity to enable people to make an informed decision on what is the true faith and practice of the church Jesus Christ started.

This is a work in progress. My prayer is that sharing my journey is helpful to you and that together we can grow in the faith that Jesus Christ made available some two thousand years ago.

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The Lord Rewards

Thus says the LORD: "Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country. I have heard Ephraim grieving, 'You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the LORD my God.
(Jeremiah 31:16-18 ESV)